Closure
by Shawn30
Summary: Post Turbo: A Power Ranger's Movie. Tommy seeks answers and closure from Kim, but she only offers one of the two.


**Title: "Closure"  
(1/1)  
Written by: Shawn**

**Summary: Post Turbo: A Power Ranger's Movie. Tommy seeks answers and closure from Kim, but she only offers one of the two.**

**Category: Angst/Romance **

**Rated: PG-13**

**Ship: Tommy/Kimberly**

**Timeline/Spoilers: Everything up to and including "Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie" is canon.**

**Disclaimer: Saban and Disney own it all.**

**Authors Notes 1: This story takes place about two hours after the martial arts tournament at the end of "Turbo: A Power rangers Movie." The infamous "Letter" Kim wrote in the Power Rangers Zeo episode "There's No Business Like Snow Business" took place on 5/13/1996. Tommy and Kim have not had any contact with each other in ten months.**

**Authors Notes 2: Assume Tommy and Kimberly are both 19 years old.**

* * *

**I love you - those three words have my life in them. by Alexandrea to Nicholas III**

**What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. by Ralph Waldo Emerson**

**You will never know true happiness until you have truly loved, and you will never understand what pain really is until you have lost it. by Anonymous**

* * *

**Angel Grove Lake **

**Friday, March 28, 1997 8:30 PM **

**Angel Grove, California**

Having parked her rental car ten minutes ago, all Kimberly wanted to do was drive off as fast as she could and never look back.

Just leave everything behind her. Make up some flimsy accuse to Tommy, apologize for the umpteenth time and high tail it out of Angel Grove. Catch an early flight back to Florida and her empty apartment and lonely life. Well, not so lonely as she had numerous regrets to keep her company.

Problem was she owed Tommy far better than that. She owed him, period, and it was long past time she faced the music. So she sat still and waited for him arrive. Tried to wish away tears that wet her eyes the moment he asked to talk to her alone. Never mind he chose a place with so many fond memories for them. She surmised that perhaps he thought it would hurt her more if they were surrounded by the echoes of their past. She didn't want to think he was that type of person, but then again she never thought she was capable of some of the things she'd done.

Especially to him.

Sighing back on the headrest, Kim could only imagine what Tommy thought of her now. How much respect he's lost for her. How disgusting she must look in his eyes after cheating on him and then dumping him so pathetically. If events had taken place the other way around she knew she'd be haunted by the thoughts of what he might be doing with another woman. Even now it kills her...

She never wanted to hurt him. It was never supposed to be this way. Never for them. Not like this.

Having dreaded this moment since the day she wrote the letter, she knows that when he finally walks away it will have been all her fault. He's seeking closure tonight. Answers to questions she prayed she'd never be asked. And when he gets those answers he may hate her more than he probably already does, or worse. He might forgive her... and just want to be friends.

Unfortunately, friends would be a second place finish her heart simply could not tolerate. Nonetheless she prepared herself for the possibility.

Sitting there in the dark wasn't doing her any good, so Kim exited her car and casually walked down the familiar stone path between a cluster of trees to where the benches were. Brushing off a couple of leafs, she sat down and cast her gaze out over the sparkling moonlit lake that was a home away from home for her relationship with Tommy. Former relationship, she amended, as she threw it away for nothing at all. At least in hindsight.

Now all she was left with were sweet memories that broke her heart.

Every thing's so different now. The Pan Global games are two months away and after that it would time to start preparing for college. Her mom's happily remarried in London, while her dad is engaged again. Some of her best friend's are spread out all over the world, while the rest she's purposely cut contact with as she was sure they wanted nothing to do with her after treating Tommy so badly. At least Jason's visit reaffirmed their sibling-like relationship as she needed her big brother after suffering through the last couple of months.

Watching Tommy reach for Katherine after his teams victory tonight wrenched something deep inside her. It took all the maturity she had to cheer and clap with the roaring crowd while hiding her utter sorrow. When once he couldn't take his eyes off of her now he could barely stand to look at her. She was an afterthought, caught by him on her way out of the arena as she wanted no part of the victory dinner. He asked if they could talk alone later and she just couldn't deny him that.

Enjoying the peace and serenity of her surroundings, Kim shut her eyes to relieve just a little of what once was.

They used to come here to study, laugh, and talk for hours... would hold each other under the stars and enjoy the quiet after a long day at school and an even longer afternoon of being Ranger's. She would sometimes read while he meditated. Other times he would practice his Kata's while she wrote songs in her notebook. She used to dream that would be the way they would act when they were married someday, cozy in their home. Each with their own interests, but always close. Always in sync.

Kim was the social butterfly while Tommy was the self-made outcast who enjoyed being by himself and yet they fell in love despite their differences.

Now all that was left between them were the burnt ashes from the fire she set to their love. And tonight she's going to have to face what she did. She's going to have to look into Tommy's eyes, tell him the whole truth, see his anger, acknowledge his feelings of betrayal, and then know when he walks away from her he's going to Katherine.

Hating her while loving someone else. That was the most bitter part of it all.

The low rumble of an SUV's tires treading caught her attention. She lifted her gaze to find Tommy parking next to her rental car, his face hidden in shadows. Was she denied even that? Par for the course seeing how badly she treated him. Well at least it was about to be over for good and she wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.

After a quick brush down of her jacket to calm her nerves, Kim rose to her feet when he approached her. He appeared every bit as apprehensive as she was. The awkwardness was stifling as neither knew if they should hug or shake hands or... and then he walked past her, stopping by her side, his attentions facing the lake.

She had never felt so cold.

He had never felt so lost.

Now that they were alone and she was safe again the urge to embrace her was nearly as painful as losing her almost a year ago. Ten long months that saw no contact of any time between them until today. Tommy recalled seeing her and Jason being held captive by Divatox and how his heart refused to beat as his thoughts centered on saving her life at any cost, even his own. He almost drowned searching for her. He's drowning in her presence right now.

Unconsciously they fell in step, walking along the lake's sandy shore, allowing the waves to speak for them until they were able too.

"Do you remember the last time we were here?" Tommy broke through the tension at last, sparing a sidelong glance at her.

Kim gave a slow nod, hands in her pockets. "The night before I left for Florida," she smiled sadly. "We camped out with some McDonalds and almost fell asleep under that big tree over there."

"You kept trying to braid my hair," he managed a small smile that matched her own. "I never understood why."

"I was suffering from hair jealousy. Yours was almost as long as mine. Plus, I've always wanted to see you in pigtails."

Tommy wanted to laugh. He really did. But nothing at all about tonight was funny. "As much as I knew I was going to miss you I was so happy you had the opportunity to pursue your dream."

"You could have been selfish and asked me to stay. I probably would have."

"I couldn't do that to you."

"That's why I love you so much," Kim noted specifically without the past tense, though she saw no reaction. She wasn't surprised by that.

The only thing Tommy loved more than spending time at this lake was spending it with her. The irony that she's walking so close to him, and yet she's never been farther away wasn't lost. "I never thought things would turn out this way."

"Neither did I."

Touring the shore side-by-side as the gentle waves drew close to their shoes, but not close enough. Kim fell silent so Tommy continued, "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Coming here tonight," he replied. "I know you're leaving for Florida soon and you probably have things you have to... people you need to get back too."

A slow breath escaped her as she sensed his immense hurt over assuming there was someone special in her life. Was it so wrong that a part of her enjoyed his subtle jealousy? She wanted to speak up and tell him no and how wrong things turned out, but she felt so ashamed of being a fool. And now that he had someone special in his life she just didn't want to look like she was all by herself.

"We should have talked a long time ago, Tommy. That's been both our faults. But more mine than yours in recent months."

"Would you have reached out to me if I hadn't asked you to talk tonight?" He studied her face, searching for the truth.

"I don't know."

"Why?"

"Because I couldn't bear to see you look at me with hate in your eyes," Kimberly finished in a timid whisper.

All that Tommy wanted to do was take her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. But the embarrassment and pain of what took place held him in check. "I just want to know what happened to us. I need to hear it from your perspective instead of just my own in my head making up what you were thinking and feeling. Your letter was so short and... weird, I just don't really know what to think."

His non-denial of hating her stung, but she expected as much. "I've dreaded having this talk with you."

"Don't you want to clear the air?"

"I want..." she began, and then lowered her head, sighing. It was time to act her age and face this head on. She gently touched his wrist as they came to a halt halfway down the shore. "Before I begin answering your questions I just want you to know how sorry I am for how I treated you. I deeply regret how I handled things."

Tommy's expression was unreadable. "What specifically do you regret?"

As badly as she was dying to know what his reaction would be if she told him everything, she just couldn't give him that. It was too much as she had so little left to begin with. "Where would you like to start?"

"I'd like to start by telling you that I don't hate you," he confessed as she brushed a slow-falling tear off her cheek. "I'm not capable of hating you. I don't understand you and I don't feel like I truly know you anymore, but hate never entered the equation."

Kim wanted to believe him. Someday she just might. "The floor is yours."

Knowing him as well as she did, Katherine's gentle push to get his answers suddenly felt like the last thing he ever wanted to do. Hearing her speak of her love for someone else would burn him up inside. But he just had to do this to move on. "Who is he and how did you meet him?"

"Paul," Kimberly stated while staring straight ahead, never mind the waters licking at her heels. "He was nineteen when we met about a month after I was at the training facility. He was on the Pan Global U.S. baseball team and like me he was homesick and kind of lost."

"Didn't you make any girl friends?"

His implication was clear, that was for sure. "Of course I did. It's just..." She hated this. Absolutely hated it. "Paul was a nice guy who took talked to me from time to time. We never saw each other that much early on. When we did it was mostly in a group setting. He seemed really sweet and had so many friends and a great personality. He was very outgoing."

Tommy's stoic expression was a clear indication how he refused to show her any emotion at all. And that hurt Kim deeply. "We were both highly touted as possible gold medal hopefuls and over time it seemed like we were spending more time together doing press interviews and stuff like that."

"So I didn't call or visit you enough?"

"Tommy, you were wonderful and you were doing as much as you could do while dealing with school and leading the Rangers. I never felt as if you didn't love me. I felt as if I couldn't hold onto two lives when both felt so hard."

"Keep going."

His voice lacked any warmth at all. That was reserved for Katherine now, so Kim felt that the sooner she got through this the sooner he would walk away and she could cry her eyes out in private. "I was all alone in Florida and the training was so much harder than I thought it would be. I felt isolated from my old life. Coach Schmidt felt I had a great shot at winning a medal if I could concentrate more. But I missed you and my parents and all my friends so much. I was worried every time a news briefing came on that the Rangers had fought another battle. I was lonely..."

"So was I," he interrupted her. "But I never turned to another girl. Not one time."

She had no defense to that. His loyalty was one of his best qualities. "I thought I was falling in love with Paul."

Her words hit like a fist. "So you fell out of love with me?"

"No... I..." Kim struggled to convey, her voice hitching as she spoke. "I was so lonely and the training was killing me. Everything that I loved back in Angel Grove felt like it was holding me back because I couldn't stop thinking about it. I wasn't dealing with the pressure of training for a major competition very well. My school work was suffering. I was a mess," she tried to explain. "Paul was there. I thought he was easy to talk too and he could relate to my problems. He listened to me and was complimenting me all the time. I thought his interest and patience with me meant something."

"I would have been there for you if I could have."

"You had your own life to live."

"And you were the biggest part of it."

Averting her face from him, Kim felt so sick with sadness and regret she began to quietly sob, wrapping her arms around herself. "He kissed me for the first time a month before I sent the letter. I didn't push him away."

As badly as he wished otherwise, Tommy suspected as much. They were falling apart and he didn't even know it. "So you were cheating on me for a whole month?"

With tears in her eyes, she nodded, now facing him again. "I didn't feel lonely when I was with him. I... I was with someone who was going through all the same crap I was... all the training and sacrifices that competing in the Pan Globals called for. He treated me nice and kept telling me I had to choose. I did everything wrong, Tommy," she forced herself to admit. "I thought I had fallen in love with Paul. It was so much easier being with him because he was there with me through everything I was dealing with. But I hated cheating on you and hurting you when you were still in love with me. So I took the cowards way out. Instead of calling you like an adult or even asking Zordon for an emergency teleport just one time I sat down at my desk and cried my way through writing the dumbest letter ever. I didn't send it to your house because some stupid part of my mind didn't want your parents to think less of me."

"You embarrassed me instead by sending it to the Youth Center," Tommy was finally able to say to her face. Finally able to make her see what she did to him. "It was humiliating!" he shouted uncharacteristically. She stood her ground as tears fell in earnest. "I was so sure it was a simple letter where the worst I'd hear would be a couple of 'I love you's' or a poem you wrote. I'd get razzed by the guys, but that never bothered me. So I let Adam read the letter out loud while I was working out. Imagine how that turned out."

With a hint of alarm in her eyes, Kim never knew it happened that way. "I'm sorry."

"You called me your brother," Tommy began circling her, his breathing labored as his feelings were in an uproar. "Aisha, Billy, Rocky, and Adam saw us together for a long time. To have you disrespect what we were to each other by calling me your brother was so humiliating, you have no idea. I was crushed and I couldn't figure out why you would do this to us. I didn't know what I did wrong."

"You didn't do anything wrong," Kim pleaded with him. "It was all my fault."

"But I still suffered because of it!" he shouted again. "While you were doing God knows what with your new boyfriend I was heartbroken, embarrassed and I still had to lead the Rangers, deal with school, and put on a happy face for my parents and friends. I was miserable, Kim."

"I was miserable too!" her voice rose as she stalked toward him. "I missed you so much and I hated myself for writing that letter. I hated knowing I was breaking your heart."

"But you did it anyway!"

"And I regret it every day of my life!" Wincing painfully, she buried her face in her hands as the urge to run was nearly irresistible. Deep down she knew running wouldn't solve anything. In fact, it would only make things worse. So she collected herself as best she could, now standing face to face with the man she still loved. "I'm so sorry," she said again.

Glaring angrily at her, all of a sudden Tommy's gaze softened into something tender and hopeless. Right, wrong, good, or bad she just didn't want to be with him anymore. He could yell at her all day and call her names but it still wouldn't ever replace the cruel hurt of knowing that she simply wanted another man more than him. That was the bottom line at the end of the day and it ate him alive.

She had chosen someone else.

"Tommy," she tearfully called out his name as he seemed lost in his inner thoughts. "Say something? Please"  
As the waves crested against the shore Tommy shut his eyes while thinking over what to say. Now that he had his answers how did he feel about all of this? What was the right move to make? Is this what closure felt like, because he sure as hell didn't know. And then it hit him... hit him so hard he felt like crying himself but just wouldn't let the tears fall. He knew what he wanted to ask her. It was the one and only thing that had ever mattered to him. It defined his character no matter the pain he was in.

"Are you happy?"

The caring and sincere concern in his voice humbled Kim. Even after all the pain she'd caused him... all the hurt and embarrassment he never deserved he still thought of her well being. Still wanted the best for her. As horrible as she felt before, she felt infinitely worse now. She had broken a trust between them that she might never be able to repair. "It doesn't matter."

"Look, if you are just say so."

"Are you happy?"

"Dammit, Kim!" He was so exasperated with her. "Just tell me the truth."

"No," Kim answered in the ghost of a whisper, her eyes wet with fresh tears. "What I thought of Paul at the beginning of our relationship and what I learned about him at the end were two very different things. But I also blame myself for being so stupid and immature."

Brushing her hand over her hair, she graced him with an unbearably sad smile. He stood patiently, waiting for her to continue. "Paul was a jackass," she began. "He was more interested in the press I was getting and how popular were were as a couple than us building something special. He saw me as a conquest. The sweet, young virgin who could help keep his face in the newspapers and his status around the compound. So he told me everything I wanted to hear and pretended to listen to everything I had to say. But after I broke up with you he started to change."

As they began to walk again Kimberly felt like she was falling... with no end in sight. "He acted like my breaking up with you was some sort of victory for him. He wanted us to go out more so that we could be seen socially. That mattered to him more than spending time alone together. And when I told him how much I missed my friends he never encouraged me to reach out to them. Before long I began to feel like he was all that I had. And since I broke your heart I had to make my new relationship better than ours to validate it. I turned a blind eye to anything I didn't like that he did and focused on the fact that at least I had someone"  
When it was apparent Tommy wasn't going to say anything until she finished, Kim sadly pressed on. "When he began hanging out with his older friends more than he was with me I ignored it. When he seemed annoyed whenever I called him on something I was so afraid he would leave me that I kept my mouth shut. He became a new person who wasn't attentive or sweet anymore. He was so into himself and thinking of the endorsement deals he might get after the Pan Globals that I felt like an afterthought in his life. So when I feared that he might leave me I felt like I needed to give him a reason to stay. Since I had given you up I just couldn't bear to lose him. The relationship had to work or I would have lost you for nothing. So I..."

All that Tommy could hold onto in the way of hope whithered away into nothingness. What was once precious now felt shattered. Was he to be spared any pain tonight? Couldn't he have moved on with his life having never known this one undeniably brutal fact? The sense of devastation when he finally spoke captured the very breath in his lungs. "You slept with him," he turned, forcing himself to face her. "Didn't you?"

And now her utter shame was complete. Denying it would be adding insult to injury, so Kimberly mustered the last of her remaining courage to address him for probably the last time. And when their eyes met she knew that she'd never seen him so hurt before. She realized in that very moment she'd broken his heart all over again.

"Yes," she replied after a tearful pause, her head bowed as if she sought redemption. "I thought sex would keep Paul interested in me. He was good looking and popular, so I knew he could find other girls who would sleep with him. I didn't want to feel lonely anymore, so I acted stupid and immature. I slept with him to keep him around and to try and convince myself that what I had with you was just a high school fling, while what I had with him was an adult relationship. I ended up making a fool of myself."

Even after hearing her deeply-personal confession, the words were slow to process in his mind. Another man touching his Beautiful... seeing her in that way... sleeping next to her... making love to her the way he had dreamed of for so long... he wanted to scream and rage at the stars themselves. He wanted to find Paul and tear his heart out!

Tommy couldn't stand to look at Kim, though it had nothing to do with hate as much as he had never felt so young and immature as he did right now. He felt beneath her for some odd reason, as if life passed him by when he wasn't looking. The horrible feeling in the pit of his gut was the loss of their innocence. Something had been taken from him that he could never get back.

His voice carried with it an empty spirit. "What you do or did isn't my business."

His defense mechanism didn't fool Kim one bit as she recognized the hard line of his jaw and the angry way he held his hands. She hated the crestfallen expression he wore as he looked skyward, seemingly wishing the heavens would open up and give him an answer as to how things turned out this way. "Breaking up with you was the worst mistake of my life, but sleeping with Paul was right behind it." She added, "I regret it for so many reasons, Tommy. But most of all I regret it because you were so sweet and patient with me concerning sex. You never pressured me and I can only imagine how this must look to you. I always wanted my first time to be with you. I love you so much and I know I've betrayed you in every way." They were broken in Kim's eyes. So broken and lost with no hope of finding their way home. She stood behind him, awaiting whatever outburst was to come. If he needed to rail on her she'd take it and walk away forever. "You must think I'm a slut."

"No," he replied barely loud enough for her to hear. But he couldn't quite look at her just yet. "You're an adult, Kim. You broke up with me. Who you slept with... I don't have the right to judge you. And I know you're not a slut because you slept with your boyfriend. Even though it kills me to hear about it, your life is your own. No one has the right to judge it or call you names."

Of course he was that wonderful. Just as she was that stupid to let him go.

Kimberly slowly came around to stand before him. While she hated seeing him in pain at least now she knew he still cared. "Paul cheated on me." His gaze lifted, finding only shame in her own. "He told me to my face that he had slept with two other girls and that he wanted to be single again. He said I came with too much baggage and wanted something serious, while he just wanted a fun time. That wasn't the way we began, but that's how he spun it at the end. I was blindsided by how he treated me. I cried for days, blamed myself, and then accepted that I deserved to be treated that way because I threw you away just as carelessly."

"We're only human, Kim. Everyone makes mistakes. No one deserves to be hurt on purpose."

"Karma's a bitch."

"You made a mistake a lot of girls make," he sighed, now rubbing his tired eyes. This was so much to take in. "You live and learn. That's all any of us can do."

"At least you have Kat. I don't have anyone," she confided in him, feeling small and isolated from what was good in the world. "I'm so jealous of what you have now," she confessed through a fresh wave of tears. "I miss what we... I messed everything up."

They began walking again, following the shore's sandy path back towards where they parked. Tommy thought of telling her that she would find someone someday. But the words died on his tongue. He wasn't quite sure why.

"I'm not used to seeing another girl touch you and..." Kim choked on the assumption, swallowing hard in the back of her throat as she tried not to imagine the nights he might have spent with Kat. How all his love and devotion were for her now, while she had no one at all to call her own. No one to keep her warm and make her feel safe and loved. Her personal life was in ruin by her own hands. "I'm so sorry for how I treated you, Tommy. I truly am. I just want you to be happy."

"I want that for you too."

"So are you?"

"Fairly," he answered a bit elusive, dodging her curious stare. Lying to her wasn't going to change anything, so he decided against it. "Kat and I are dating casually," he told her. "We aren't in a relationship... yet. We enjoy each others company and have fun together, but we're conscious of college being just around the corner. So we're keeping things simple right now. She's not my girlfriend."

"Have you slept with her?"

That wasn't any of her business, but he could tell she wasn't asking because she thought he hadn't done it. A dark part of him wanted to lie just so she would know how it felt to go to bed at night knowing he'd been with someone else. To feel that restless ache that someone you loved was making love to someone else. The problem was he wasn't that kind of person. "No."

Kimberly exhaled deeply, just out of his line of sight. She didn't feel she deserved to feel relived, but she did anyway. At least the whole truth was out and all assumptions had been laid to rest. Now they were on even ground, fractured as it was.

Tommy stared up at the moonlit sky, absorbing the majesty while searching his heart of hearts. "I miss you," he admitted without thinking of anything other than being honest.

It felt so good for her to hear him say that. "I miss you too. And I hate being jealous of someone as wonderful as Katherine."

"She's jealous of you too."

"Why?" His half-shrug was all the reply she'd receive, though the winds of change seemed to have picked up. "Do you think you could ever forgive me?"

Shifting closer to her, Tommy considered the question, a bit lost in her beautiful brown eyes. "Someday, yes."

Not yet, but someday. Kim could live with that as it was honestly more than she felt she deserved. Unconsciously reaching out, her hand touched the front of his jacket, fingers tracing along the length. "Are you in love with Kat?"

His right hand seized hers just over his heart. Failing to push it away, he effectively trapped it there, unsure exactly why. "Someday I might be."

"How about today?"

Curling his hand around her smaller one, so warm and soft to the touch, he answered, "No."

"I'm still in love with you." Kim saw no reason to hold that in or pretend it didn't exist. Her gently falling tears evidenced the sincerity of her heart. She stood before him, her hand pressed over what she once owned and still coveted. He uttered not a single word, his head bowed before her. "You know what my next question is."

"Don't ask it."

"Why?"

"Just... just don't."

She betrayed and hurt him worst than anyone ever had before. Letting her back in his life was something Kim knew he feared as he just didn't trust her anymore. But this wasn't about trust. And it wasn't about the past. It was about the here and now, in this very moment.

As they held hands over his broken heart, Kimberly felt their was one last question that needed to be answered. With tears falling down her cheeks she tempted fate. "Kiss me?"

"Kim..."

"Kiss me one last time," she opened her imperfect self to him, seeking his soul. "Even if it's goodbye."

Without relinquishing her hand, Tommy lifted it to her face, the pad of his thumb smoothing away her tear streaks. His palm cupped her cheek, her hand resting over his as he warred within himself over what he wanted to do versus what might hurt them both more than they already were. In the end he simply had to know... he just had to know if he still truly loved her.

When his lips softly caressed hers for the first time in almost a year her eyes shut as she felt alive again. Loving him was as natural as breathing for Kim, and so they fell into an easy back and forth rhythm that made her feel so warm inside. So complete, as if she were finally home again. If she had any lingering doubts that she didn't want him, but just the memory of what it felt like to be with him, they were killed the moment his other hand found her face, holding her perfectly still while he sweetly captured her lips in a deeply emotional kiss.

Tommy plundered her exquisitely curved mouth, drowning now in the luscious taste of her lips. His hands slowly fell from her face until his arms wrapped tight around her, hauling her flush against his chest as a fiery passion that had been simmering all night began to burn white hot until they were devouring each other with such a greedy, hungering need. Her arms slipped around his neck a second before his tongue invaded her mouth. His mind wandered towards lifting her off her feet and lying her down on the grass, and then making her his again.

Possessing her in the only way he never had before.

With a heavy heart though, Tommy willed himself to stop, ending the kiss with his forehead pressed to hers as if in agony. He gently released her, taking an unsteady step backwards as he felt the incredible effects of their kiss all over his body. Her openly flushed face and daring smile captivated him. Dammit, she knew the answer to the question he didn't want her to ask. He couldn't hide it anymore than he could hide the moon.

"You told me that you're casually dating Katherine and that you're not in love with her," Kim noted as she caught her breath, her eyes never leaving his for a second. "So in essence you're single. Well so am I. So I want you to listen to me closely."

Tommy stood his ground, hands by his side while watching her.

"Even though I'll be competing in the Pan Globals overseas next summer I'm moving back to Angel Grove when I graduate in late May. I want to be close to my father again and I miss my friends. I miss you more than anything else, so I'm promising you right here and now that when I get off that plane I'm still going to be single. And if you are too then I'm going to try and win you back." He never said a word, simply taking in the gravity of what she said. "The kiss we just shared told me that we aren't done yet. The final page in the book of us hasn't been written. I can't do anything to change the past, but I can tell you that I am still in love with you. I still want you in my life. And I'm so sorry for what I did, but I want the opportunity to earn a second chance with you. So if you think there's a future for you and Kat, or that your feelings for her might run deeper than you thought you had better work those issues out in the next two months. Because once I walk off that plane if you're single... you're mine."

Having cried enough tonight, Kimberly walked up to Tommy, leaned in and kissed just the side of his mouth. "You don't have to forgive and forget. I don't expect anything easy. But you know how we are together. No one else makes us feel this way. I only want the chance to win you back. I'm not asking for anything to be handed to me. I don't expect you to just push aside all the pain I've caused you. But please don't let your pride stand in the way of your heart. I know you love me even if you can't say it. You've been dating Kat almost a year and still aren't in love with her. Just remember how long it took you to fall in love with me."

Tommy remained silent, but thoughtful as she backed away toward the path that led to where they were parked.

"You have a lot to think about, Tommy. Please remember that I love you and how sorry I am for ever hurting you. Remember how you felt just now when you held me in your arms and kissed me. And when I'm back home in May if you don't want me I'll be alright. But if you're single and you don't push me away prepare to be romanced out of that cute Red Turbo Ranger outfit of yours," she smiled for what felt like the first time all night. Even better than that, so did he.

"Drive safe."

"You too."

He protectively followed her all the way back to her car with his eyes, and then until it drove out of his line of sight down the road. Sighing to himself, Tommy stretched his arms out and began a slow journey back to his car. At long last he had all his answers, but not the other thing he sought tonight.

He was left with one final question Kim couldn't answer because only he could.

Did he want closure at all?

* * *

**The End **


End file.
